destroyer, and lord of creation and preservation; the ruler of the world; unborn, imperishable, undecaying: I will relate to you that which was originally imparted by the great father of all Brahma(), in answer to the questions of Daksha and other venerable sages, and repeated by them to Purukutsa, a king who reigned on the banks of the Narmada. It was next related by him to Saraswata, and by Saraswata to me 9.

In the regions below the earth the Gandharbas called Mauneyas (or sons of the MuniKasyapa), who were sixty millions in number, had defeated the tribes of the Nagas, or snake gods, and seized upon their most precious jewels, and usurped their dominion. Deprived of their power by the Gandharbas, the serpent chiefs addressed the god of the gods, as he awoke from his slumbers; and the blossoms of his lotus eyes opened while listening to their hymns. They said, Lord", how shall we be delivered from this great fear?" Then replied the first of males, who is without beginning, "I will enter into the person of Purukutsa, the son of Mandhatri, the son of Yuvanaswa, and in him will I quiet these iniquitous Gandharbas." On hearing these words, the snake gods bowed and withdrew, and returning to their country dispatched Narmada to solicit the aid of Purukutsa 4.

Narmada accordingly went to Purukutsa, and conducted him to the regions below the earth, where, being filled with the might of the deity, he destroyed the Gandharbas. He then returned to his own palace; and the snake gods, in acknowledgment of Narmada s services, conferred upon her as a blessing, that whosoever should think of her, and invoke her name, should never have any dread of the venom of snakes. This is the invocation; Salutation" be to Narmada in the morning; salutation be to Narmada at night; salutation be to thee, O Narmada! defend me

from the serpent s poison." Whoever repeats this day and night, shall never be bitten by a snake in the dark nor in entering a chamber; nor shall he who calls it to mind when he eats suffer any injury from poison, though it be mixed with his food. To Purukutsa also the snake gods announced that the series of his descendants should never be cut off.

Purukutsa had a son by Narmada named Trasadasyu, whose son was Sambhuta 5, whose son was Anaranya, who was slain, by Ravana in his triumphant progress through the nations. The son of Anaranya was Prishadaswa; his son was Haryyaswa; his son was Sumanas 6; his son was Tridhanwan; his son was Trayyaruna; and his son was Satyavrata, who obtained the appellation of Trisanku, and was degraded to the condition of a Chandala, or outcast 7. During a twelve years famine Trisanku provided the flesh of deer for the nourishment of the wife and children of Viswamitra, suspending it upon a spreading fig tree on the borders of the Ganges, that he might not subject them to the indignity of receiving presents from an outcast. On this account Viswamitra, being highly pleased with him, elevated him in his living body to heaven 8.

This Purana, originally composed by the RishiNarayana(), was communicated by Brahma to Ribhu; he related it to Priyavrata, by whom it was imparted to Bhaguri. Bhaguri recited it to Tamasitra 6, and he to Dadicha, who gave it to Saraswata. From the last Bhrigu received it, who imparted it to Purukutsa, and he taught it to Narmada. The goddess delivered it to Dhritarashtra the Naga king, and to Purana of the same race, by whom it was repeated to their monarch Vasuki. Vasuki communicated it to Vatsa, and he to aswatara, from whom it successively proceeded to Kambala and Elapatra. When the MuniVedasiras descended to Patala, he there received the whole Purana from these Nagas, and communicated it to Pramati. Pramati consigned it to the wise Jatukarna, and he taught it to many other holy persons. Through the blessing of Vasishtha it came to my knowledge, and I have now, Maitreya, faithfully imparted it to you. You will teach it, at the end of the Kali age, to samika 7. Whoever hears this great mystery, which removes the contamination of the Kali, shall be freed from all his sins. He who hears this every day acquits himself of his daily obligations to ancestors, gods, and men. The great and rarely attainable merit that a man acquires by the gift of a brown cow, he derives from hearing ten chapters of this Purana 8. He who hears the entire Purana, contemplating in his mind Achyuta, who is all things, and of whom all things are made; who is the stay of the whole world,